In the exhibition Poetry of the Flow, Taiwanese artist Yahon Chang’s site-specific installation converts the monumental space of the Sala delle Armi in Palazzo Chiaramonte-Steriinto an interactive environment, tackling philosophical, spiritual and existential issues that revolve around the contemporary human condition. Employing Chinese ink painting techniques, Poetry of the Flowshows multiple large-scale ink paintings that cover the entirety of the exhibition space that surround the viewer.

Over the last 2,000 years, Palermo has been occupied by numerous European countries and has long-term connections with North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean. The artist draws inspiration from the social context of the city which hosts Manifesta 12, with its lavish historical, syncretic and cultural values.

Ink painting and calligraphy have been an integral part of Chinese literati culture for thousands of years. Chang uses these classical techniques and aesthetics to create a new language that is relevant to a contemporary society. Rather than focussing on the process of creation, the artist works similarly to the western art movement Expressionism whereby the artworks are expressive of the artist’s inner feelings or ideas.

Creating an open and performative element, the artist involves visitors and the local community with the exhibition by inviting them to daily workshops at his temporary studio on via Pantelleria during the vernissage week. He will be teaching Chinese calligraphy as well as how to paint on traditional lanterns.

The artist integrates local materials through painting on bedsheets acquired in Palermo, which are hung in the outdoor garden of his studio. This mirrors the urban landscape within the city, where citizens hang their laundry on balconies in abundance. The combination of the large-scale Chinese ink paintings and paintings on locally sourced bedsheets comments on the layering of histories that have saturated the city for thousands of years. Chang creates a bridge between his own culture and the multicultural Palermo. The Question of Beings | YAHON CHANG @ Roma

From La Biennale di Venezia to MACRO. International Perspectives is a new exhibition project conceived and curated by Paolo De Grandis and Claudio Crescentini. The project is devoted to the presentation of the three selected international exhibitions from La Biennale di Venezia - International Art Exhibition at the MACRO’s spaces, as site-specific, reconstructed, and remodelled artworks.

Promoted by Roma Capitale – Superintendent Capitolina of Cultural Heritage and organised in collaboration with PDG Arte Communications, the project seeks to converge the art prospects of two cities that are working together to circulate the experience of international art throughout the country. Venice and the Capital, two cities that are linked by immense historical and artistic traditions, have been able to further enrich their heritage so as to give voice and life to contemporary art. Moreover, they are also discovering and emphasising this cultural resource by documenting existing assets and promoting both initiatives and international connections. The research for this project was initiated in 1995 by Paolo De Grandis, whose efforts helped introduce new countries to La Biennale di Venezia and prompted the establishment of additional outdoor pavilions. Therefore, the works will follow a path of innovation and travel from one city to the next, from one space to the other, enriching themselves with meanings and nurturing a new audience. All the while, the works will be evolving in the new context, specifically created for MACRO by the various international artists who were invited to participate.

From La Biennale di Venezia to MACRO. International Perspectives reaches its second stage with Yahon Chang @ Roma, The Question of Beings, curated by J. J. Shih and Francise Chang. First organised by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei for the La Biennale di Venezia, this summer at MACRO it is presented in collaboration with Contemporary Art Foundation and MDCA Foundation.

On site at MACRO Testaccio - La Pelanda space with ceiling height measures at 12 meters tall, Yahon Chang will re-create the conceptual exploration of his site-specific ink painting installations, which were exhibited at The 56th International Art Exhibition at the MOCA Taipei Pavilion for the Collateral Events of la Biennale di Venezia. Chang’s new works, to be exhibited at La Pelanda, will correspond with the conceptual framework suggested by its past title The Question of Beings. Furthermore, Chang will also create new works that resonate with the historical site of La Pelanda, an ex-slaughter house. Additionally, there will be three large-scale iron sculptures ship especially from the OPEN (2015) exhibition in Venice, to be shown along with the ink painting installation. The form of his sculpture stems from his ink brushstrokes, together, the ink paintings and the sculptures express the transformation and representation on how a two dimensional plane can be transforms into a three dimensional form, and finally to the concept of a space. Vital Series 行氣系列

ink and gouache on paper 水墨 水粉 宣紙

365 x 145 cm Emerging Presence 湧現不止的存在

Faces 百面相

ink on paper 水墨 宣紙

diptych 雙連作 365 x 290 cm

56th International Art Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia 第56屆威尼斯藝術雙年展

The Question of Beings   蒼生問

Collateral Event 平行展    |    Solo Exhibition of Yahon Chang 張耀煌 個展

Venue                           Istituto Santa Maria della Pietà, Castello 3701, Venezia

Preview period             6th – 8th May 2015  |  10 am – 7 pm

Running period            9th May 2015 – 22nd November 2015  |  10 am – 6 pm (closed on Mondays)

In this year’s Collateral Event at the 56th International Art Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia, Yahon Chang investigates the theme of “The Question of Beings” at the Istituto Santa Maria Della Pietà, where he has created a site-specific exhibition featuring a series of new paintings and mixed media installations that explore the conscious and subconscious natures of individuals. With these new works, Chang questions the diversity and complexity of living beings in an effort to delve into the likenesses and differences between the recesses of human and animal instinct.

Chang has amalgamated the aesthetics of calligraphy with expressive lines to depict a multitude of faces portraying the holy, mundane and animalistic aspects of countenance. The multiplicity of faces fills the entirety of the exhibition space, creating an interactive environment that allows the audience to enter a world akin to an “alternative Facebook”. This interactive environment invites the viewer to contemplate the nature of sentient beings, while questioning the meaning of their own identity.

Written by J.J. Shih and Francise Chang

地點      聖瑪莉亞聖殤學院  Castello區 3701 號  威尼斯

預展期    2015年5月6 - 8日 | 上午10點 - 晚上7點

展期      2015年5月9日 - 11月22日 | 上午10點 - 下午6點（逢星期一休息）

本屆威尼斯雙年展的平行展，張耀煌以「蒼生問」為個展主題，針對聖瑪莉亞聖殤學院的展場，量身打造了一系列全新的畫作和混合媒材裝置 (site-specific exhibition)。就創作概念言，本展從探索個人生命的意識和潛意識出發，而針對眾生的多樣/複雜進行提問，並挖掘人類本質與動物本性的同異。

石瑞仁 / 張馨文 著 Face to Face 面對面

Face to Face: Yahon Chang & Kim Eunju double exhibition

面對面：張耀煌＆金恩朱 聯展 Beings & Countenance | Wesen & Antlitz

Paintings of Yahon Chang - Solo touring exhibition

Kunsthalle Faust, Hannover, Germany

6 June - 6 July 2014

Vernissage: 5 June 2014, 7pm

The main element of traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy is the line. Because of this common feature, these two art forms of early time to have a close, mutually determining relationship. Since the 13th Century to the present day, many artists deliberately put a special emphasis on the connection of Chinese painting and calligraphy and promote the fusion of the two genres. In this concise ratio picturesque origins of Taiwanese painter Yahon Chang grew into its own cosmos and its individual form of expression.

The line defined by the image works Yahon Chang not only the shape but also the surface with which the painter handles different: Firstly, the thick, black, gestural line connects the painting with calligraphy and is himself and shaping enough. Second, the line outlined giving shape, which is filled of colour and still remains the dominant visual character.

Almost all the works act in the picturesque manner, wild and passionate. The gesture, expressive individual action is captured on the paper or canvas. However, this gestural painting does not come from a state of nervous agitation, but on the contrary from the absolute tranquility. Yahon Chang describes itself as: “In an extremely peaceful state suddenly explodes it all for me".

In cooperation with Claus Friede, Contemporary Art Hamburg.

Opening times: Fri 4pm-8pm, Sat and Sun 2pm-6pm

Admission: 3 €, Concession: 2 € The Mortal World • The Destination – Solo Exhibition of Yahon Chang 人間 • 歸宿 — 張耀煌個展

National Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall, Taipei, Taiwan

13 - 29 May 2014

2014年5月13日- 29日

開幕日期： 2014年5月13日，下午3點

Vernissage: 13th May 2014, 3pm

We are pleased to present “The Mortal World  The Destination - Solo Exhibition of Yahon Chang” starting on the 13th of May at National Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall in Taiwan, displaying nearly 30 paintings from the new series of the “Mortal World” and the “Destination”. Two of the exhibiting paintings from the “Destination” series will be donated for charity sale, to raise funds for building a new matrimonial church for Danshui’s TamKang Church. Furthermore, ten more paintings will be donated for charity fund raising for Joy of Life and Care Association and The House of Dreams Youth Development Association, to raise funds for helping the low-income families, the impoverished elderly and youth.

張耀煌新作個展《人間 • 歸宿》將於5月13日至29日期間在臺灣國父紀念館開幕，展出近30幅 “人間” 和“歸宿” 系列的全新作品，充份展現一位修心多年的畫家流露對現世的拒絕、掙扎、接受和愛。展覽中將有兩幅“歸宿” 系列畫作捐贈義賣於淡江教會，希望借此機會募款新建婚禮教堂。另外十幅“歸宿” 系列畫作將捐贈義賣給「社團法人臺北市喜樂人生關懷協」及「社團法人中華民國夢想之家青年發展協會」做慈善募款幫助低收入家庭，貧困老人和中輟生。 Ever Harvest Art Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
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